We would go on these field trips every second Friday of the month and I was consistently sitting with my one bespectacled friend at the back of the train or dairy farm or yarn manufacturer or wherever we happened to be that day.

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Age 8, skipped school to see Return of the King in theaters with my stepmom

(By this time I was enrolled in public school) I bragged about it to my classmates the next day, too.

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Age 10, tried to join my class in a recess soccer game

Every day all of the boys and Cool Girls would play soccer on the fields at recess and I never joined them because a) I am bad at running and b) I am bad at kicking. But this one day, for whatever reason, I asked to play. They let me. I tripped over the ball. I retreated to the miniature rock wall on the playground and didn't make eye contact with anyone for the rest of the day.

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Age 16, snuck into comic-con but quickly left because I was afraid someone would catch me

I accidentally wandered in a back door of the convention center with my dad and we found ourselves on the main floor, superheroes everywhere. We didn't have wrist bands, obviously, so I was sure someone would find us and kick us out. I was really nervous, so we left because I was too much of a wimp.

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Age 18, didn't go do College Things because I wanted to finish Ender's Game

I had plans that night, maybe, but instead I sat on my giant bean bag and read some mediocre sci-fi for HOURS. Then fell asleep, probably around 10 pm.